born 1963 in Warsaw
A graduate from the Warsaw Academy of Fine Arts in 1993, Kozyra is an author of sculptures, photographs, installations, performances and videos. She is a leading representative of the critical art movement.
The artist is known for her controversial works that break social taboos, dealing with issues such as death, illness, nudity, corporality, sex and religion, and which critically review various socio-political discourses. In her pieces, she also tackles gender identity issues and undermines the stereotypes associated with it, approaching gender as a performative act. In the project In Art Dreams Come True (2003-2009) Kozyra takes on various roles, such as an opera singer, a drag queen or a cheerleader, playing upon social expectations about femininity and masculinity. Since 2012, in the project Searching for Jesus, the artist has been investigating the phenomenon of the so called Jerusalem syndrome.
Katarzyna Kozyra, Diva. Reincarnation, performance from the cycle In Art Dreams Come True, 2005, video 8’07’’
The audience awaiting the artist’s appearance were first shown a projection – a pre-war photograph of a diva photographed inside a cage with a lion – accompanied by an overture to an aria played from an analogue record. When the slowly fading image finally disappeared, a cage (initially covered with a cloth) was brought onto the stage with the artist inside – dressed in a costume of an obese woman made of special foam according to a cast of a real body. Completely “hidden” inside the costume, Kozyra performed to Maestro’s accompaniment the aria of Olympia – the soulless doll from The Tales of Hoffmann by Jacques Offenbach. As it can be seen in the performance footage, the diva’s lips are still, the voice of Kozyra, who is imprisoned in a double way – in the metal cage and in the foam body – is hardly audible for the audience. The artist is instructed by a man, Maestro, a severe teacher who admonishes her in public
